Sunday, November 8, 2009

wHaT wouLD yOU dO, if you hAD all tHE tiME and mONEY in tHiS woRLD?

Ever asked yourself this question?
Try to do it. They say by doing so, you will find your joy, and your meaning of life.
This list is not complete yet...will continue to update...whenever the inspiration comes...

1. I will buy 10 nos of QC3 and put them all over the place. 1 in my bedroom, 2 in the living hall, 1 in the kitchen, 1 in the toilet, 1 on the sofa couch, and the remaining for display only. Buy another one for my dog and my cat too!
[2009.11.08 3.20 am MY time - unable to sleep, with lum sleeping at the next bed...]

2. I will buy the Baskin Robbins franchise, and set up a very nice stall at Cameron Highlands. I will hire a bunch of leng luis to work in the stall. In the meantime, I will be dropping by once in a while to have a nice Jamaica Almond Choc flavour with 3 scoops on a large waffle cone for free, sitting among those leng luis and enjoying the custom made ice cream! And I will also work part time there whenever i am free, and also take all my family members and belanja them all! I wanna enjoy my time with all of them, enjoy savouring bit by bit of the BR ice cream, having laughter all day long.
[2009.11.08 3.25 am MY time - unable to sleep, with lum STILL sleeping at the next bed...]

*to be continued*...

3. I will buy a farmhouse in the middle of the hills, something like Kundasang or Cameron Highlands where the house will be surrounded by tea plantations, rice fields and strawberry fields. Every morning, I'll bring my wife, my mom, my dad, my son, my daughter, my nieces, my nephews, my dog and my pussy cat along to go photo-jogging. I will be equipped with Canon EOS-1 Mark III camera with 135mm f1.2L lens and take portrait photos like never before!
After the jog, we will all be having a breakfast picnic by the bench in front of the farm house, enjoying the superb scenery of the tea plantation while the sun is rising. Right after we have finished picnicking, we'll all go into the farm to pluck tea leaves and harvest some fresh strawberries! And we'll all sing "mountain-song" to each other! "Haaaeeeyyyy~~~~~~~~ !!!!!"
The children will be running around catching butterflies, chasing some small chickens and some little lambs.
After the harvesting, we'll bring back those harvests. My parents and some children will play with the dogs and the pussy cats in the living room happily, while me and my wife will make the Hainan chicken rice with the chicken we caught just now. The younger ones will make the sauce while I cook the chicken rice! Mmmmm.....sooo delicious!
And we'll all sit together at the wood bench under the tree in house front, having this super nice Hainan Chicken Rice while enjoying the scenery in front our eyes...so syiok...so delicious...so satisfying...
[2009.11.11 2.16 am MY time - sitting alone by the TV after watching KBS World Channel...]

*to be continued*...

Saturday, October 17, 2009

10 PhRAsES i hEaR mOSt thESE fEW wEEks…

1. An apple a day keeps the doctor away.
[Basically now it has just been changed to : an orange a days keeps the doctor away]

2. Hello, lei hou mou? Hahahah...hihihi...huhuhu...ermm...ermm...errm...muack! muack! goodnite...bye bye.
[Ooi!!! I don't have a QC3, with the noise cancelling function you know? I just have a RM30 ciplak earphone...]

3. Sam! I have an issue with XXX, can we have a meeting to talk about this?
[Yea yea yea...there is always something you wanna talk...]

4. We want QUALITY!
[Yea yea yea...that is just another way of you saying..."I'm gonna bulldoze anyway, and don't you get in my way!"]

5. Sam! Can you please follow up on this?
[You fucker! This is supposed to be your shit!]

6. Insyaallah...
[Another word for "I won't give you"]

7. Carrefour, fish market, al jazera.
[When all you can ever go in the weekend is these so few places...BTW, weekend is only one day here, not two.]

8. Mama
[Love you]

9. Speedtouch
[Also love you. Sorry for having Mama as a backup, just in case. You'll always be my first love.]

10. It's Friday!
[Now I know where T.G.I. Friday got it's name.]

The MASTER OF ALL PHRASE....
Today want to cook what?
[Never ending question, or problem. Basically I have run out of answers liao]

Tuesday, September 22, 2009

sHiN ru DaO gE [ 心如刀割 ]

beacHboY walks slowly into the karaoke room no 9. He took the remote control and searched JAcky Cheung. He sighed. Then, he selected these two songs by pressing the remote...

1. Wo zhen de shou shang le [ 我真的受伤了 ]
2. Shin ru dao ge. [ 心如刀割 ]

Everyone in the room was silent. They understood immediately what happened to beachboy.

beacHboY reached for the microphone and started to sing. He closes his eyes. 3, 2, 1 ... s-i-n-g...

Podcast[display_podcast]



The sadness in his voice could be felt. The emotion in his singing is nothing less than that of Jacky Cheung's.

Conclusion:

beacHboY heart has been hurt deeply, and it has been bleeding profusely for the last few weeks. Thousands of arrows have pierced into his heart. Friends have been sad too, and is trying their best to help beacHboY to get back to the normal life. However, the illusion of the little lamb still manage to cloud his mind and heart sometimes...


sHiN ru DaO gE - [ 心如刀割 ] {Click to view larger image}




beacHboY, if there is this one thing that we could do for you to mend this, we wish that there is this "Handiplast for the broken heart", and we'll paste all of that around your broken heart, to stop all the leaking of tears. Also we would want to help you pull out all the arrows from your thousand arrows pierced heart! Nah! This is it! Take it!


beachBoY drinks to forget...but he just CAN'T



Description: beachBoY drinks to forget...but he just CAN'T


We'll build scaffold if had to!



Description: We'll build scaffold if had to!


Impossible is Nothing! Just Do It!



Description: This plaster is from mr sohai, mr QC3, and mr beachboY himself.


Qik! Qik! Qik! Qik! Qik!



Description: This plaster is from mr Qik, the one who loves to open his E71 and record and post to Qik.


the Baskin Robbins couple



Description: This one from the Baskin Robbins couple.


This is imported from MARS



Description: This is imported from MARS. Don't worry, it'll do the job as well.

Friday, August 21, 2009

beachboY says: fRieNd++, ok?

I hate to repeat this, since it is crucial to the continuous existence and survival of the author, at least until he sees the "HAPPILY EVER AFTER" ending for the beacHboY and the little LaMB.

"All the stories, names, characters and events depicted in this post are entirely fictional, which is coming out through the imagination of the author himself. Any resemblance to any person, alive or dead, or any events are purely unintentional, and the author are not to be held liable for any consequences resulting from reading of this post, in any way, either directly or indirectly."

Friend   |   Friend ++



See the above? A vertical line that separates the left and the right hand side of the two words. Both words have the same denominator, FRIEND. The other just had a pair of ++ to follow. In words, there isn't much difference. But in the real life, it differs so much. SO MUCH SO that there is this HUGE barrier, or BOUNDARY that can exist in so many different forms, yet invisible to the naked eye. And many have died crossing this boundary. Some died drunk, some died straight, some even died unnoticed. Nevertheless, there are still plentiful of successful stories.

beacHboY has failed more times than he could remembered, but the defeat never dampens his spirit. NEVER! And right NOW, beacHboY is gonna risk his everything to cross this, and will prove to those pessimist in the kraBi kingdom, that RULES are meant to be BROKEN, BOUNDARIES are meant to be CROSSED! beacHboY! Thousand miles is nothing compared to the FIRE in your heart. Just ADD OIL and it will continue to burN !!! We here will help you to ADD too!



Friend   |   Friend ++ {Click to view larger image}




p/s: This post is purposely created as a sign of unwavering support from all his friends towards beacHboY. Yea, support from colleagues are included also.

Tuesday, August 18, 2009

tHE sToRY of a LittLE LamB and tHE KrABi bEAcHBOY

"All the stories, names, characters and events depicted in this post are entirely fictional, which is coming out through the imagination of the author himself. Any resemblance to any person, alive or dead, or any events are purely unintentional, and the author are not to be held liable for any consequences resulting from reading of this post, in any way, either directly or indirectly."

OK. I am safe.

Once upon a time, in the long long lost kingdom of the KRaBi, there lives a beachboY. Though he came from a poor family, he has high aspiration. He aims to be the best electrician in town one day. (Yes, this olden kingdom of kRabI is very advanced one!). Being a Virgo, he seeks for perfection in everything he does. He eats only the best foods he can afford, wears a G2000 shirt even though it costs more than 200 Krabi dollars each, and only accepts nothing but perfection.

So one day, after a full day of hard labor at his workplace, he sense a moment of loneliness. He realize that all this while, he is missing something important in his life, companionship. Then later, he found that most of his friends and colleagues around him are all beginning to rear LAMB as a way to past time and to make them happier. So, one day a close friend of his suggests that he go shop for a LAMB somewhere at the marketplace. So he goes the next day, early in the morning before the sunrise.

He can't believe his eyes when he stepped into the market. It seems every stall in the market is putting up a LAMB for sale. There are many many types of LaMB available, from the black to white, fat to thin, short to tall, and anything that he could have thought of. So, the first thought that comes to his mind was "If I am gonna shop anyway, I might as well shop for the best LaMB!" So, he starts with stall no 1: "No! Too short". Then stall no. 2: "Nah! Too fat!". Then stall no 3: "Too old! Don't you wanna try to trick me with an old LaMB! I want a pure little snow white LaMB!" he shouted at the LAmB seller.

His search continues down. He noticed that the quality of the little LamBs tends to get better down the stalls. Wow de! That's nice de! But I think the next stall should have a better LamB de! So he went to the stall beside. He paused for a while. His heart skipped a beat when his eyes saw the LamB in front of him. The LaMB's face was so cheerful and loving, with the kind of smile that no man can tahan one de! Happy, optimistic and smart little lamb, she has all the traits of a superior LamB. And underneath the neck of the lamb was a tag engraved with the word "iX". Then he checked the price tag. "Hmm...this is too good to be true, there must be a catch!", he says to himself. He stood there for a few minutes, undecided, while looking at the LamB. Want or don't want leh? The LamB tries her every way to convince the beacHboY that she was a good buy. BeacHboY hesitates. "Never mind boss! I'll see around first!", the beacHboY says.

He continue for a few more stalls down the aisle. He felt awkward. This LamB in front of him has a very long tag.

Err, may I ask, what does this name means? The boss shook his head while looking at the beachBoY. He flipped the tag over. It reads "S-U-Z-H-O-U".

Then all of a sudden, the alarm rang. BeeeeeeBoooooohhhh...beeeebooohh... "Run!!! Run!!! M.P.S.J.!!!" In a blink of an eye, all the stall owners were busy pushing away their stalls haphazardly out of the market. beAcHboy panicked. "Wait! I still haven bought any LaMB!" Wait for me!!! His voice unheard. Then, two words crossed his mind. "iX!" He looked back at the stall. It's empty!!! How could this be???!!!", he exclaimed. He searched and searched in the commotion, hoping to find a glimpse of iX, but to no avail. He could see all kinds of name, MDY, ML, JSC, MW, etc etc...but there is just no iX there.

Feeling hopeless and dejected, he walked like a dead fish towards his home that day. He felt so depressed that he finished the 2 bottles of Chivas Regal and a Bombay Tequila in one hour. Then he fell onto his bed, and the view of his HP laptop become dimmer an dimmer, dimmer and dimmer....

Deeettt Diiitttt! Deeettt Diiitttt! Deeettt Diiitttt! The alarm rangs. BeachBoy reached for the clock and slam it shut. His eyes widened. Slowly he walked to his HP laptop. Shit! I forgot to turn off the computer, he says to himself. When he was about press the SHUT DOWN button, he sees some orange color tab blinkering at the bottom right corner of the taskbar. He clicked on it.

Tears of joy starts to accumulate in his red eyes. His smile widened. He rubbed of his tears and took one more close look at the msn live messenger program before him, in a state of disbelief. His name fanShue was there. What he couldn't figure yet is the other name...This is what he saw...


tHE sToRY of a LittLE LamB and tHE KrABi bEAcHBOY
Click to view larger image.





tHE sToRY of a LittLE LamB and tHE KrABi bEAcHBOY
Click to view larger image.


Monday, August 17, 2009

suDdeNLy, an advice from hEAVen or MayBE heLL..i don’t knoW…

Two unanswered calls. The timing of the ringing was so inappropriate. Why not later? Why not earlier? Why now? With my feet and hands still wet, i took the phone and looked. 2 missed calls. I called back. "Ei..sorry just now, can't hear the phone!". "Oh. I happen to be here in KL. Free boh? 2.30! I go find you", he says.

He, was a friend of mine from as long as a decade, or something close to it. I never would have thought of him arriving here, considering that he is working at some place far from here. Some few hundreds kilometers away. Anyway, it was his relatives function he was attending, and it happens to be nearby, and so, the visit.

Today I find him different from the friend I once known. Very different. Not his attire or his look, coz is still as shabby as always. But his thinking, and the way he looked at this world. In the short conversation that we had, I knew he is a changed man. You couldn't have imagined how a man he was 2 years back.

"The penny is even bigger than the wheels of the cart", a Chinese saying goes. THIS is the impression he gives before this. He values his money so much, that he eats he cheapest food he can get hold of during Uni time, he shops for the cheapest shampoo brand to use during sales season. And worst of all, he is still using the 14" CRT monitor from the 80's in his Uni time for his computer, and even back then, LCD is already considered to be normal. And we never succeeded in asking him to join us to wherever outing that we happen to organise, be it a short trip to the cinema, excursion to the Taman Negara, or even the countdown session on every christmas eve.

But right now, in front of me, he is saying that he has been to Taiwan recently, and is planning on going to Shanghai at the end of the year! "Don't you know? I put it up in my Facebook account!", he says. Then he ask me whether I played the "restaurant city" game. I said no. "What? What la...u so outdated one! Everybody has a FB account right now, and its fun!", he continues. It's kinda strange to have him say this to me. Among all my friends and colleagues, he is the one least qualified to say that I am so so outdated, at least it was true 2 years back. Coz old fashion was his theme. Conservative and conventional was his belief back then! TNS! And now I find myself lectured by this fucker friend of mine about me not being active in FB. Basically, I'm not that anti FB, but just that i still can't get accustomed to the idea of sharing all your photos for others to see. And the "what's on your mind" thing, sometimes i feel like is becoming of a gossip at the fish market, and it can be a great time waster sometimes. Of coz many times, it's great entertainment to see people whacking each other. But i have got to salute this creator of FB, for he has the power to convince even uncles and auntys and even grandpas and grandmas to use FB. E-circles failed to do it. Friendster fails to do it. Even Myspace failed to do it. For this I salute him. 100%.

So i asked him what made the change. He says it was the accident that made him change. He was hit by a car and he broke his leg, arm, and some other bones, and is still walking a bit awkwardly as of now. Very lucky for him. For him, every single day after the accident was a day earned. It's like to live after you have died. If we were to think this way, then there is really nothing that can make us fear or shy or whatsoever. There is nothing worse than death itself. I still remembered him saying last time that the first thought that came across his mind when he was lying on the road is "What is the purpose of me having so much money?"

I guess that is really true. To be truly engrossed in making money only and neglect the other important things is life is just something too stupid to do. At least true from this real life experience of my friend. I am happy that he has made this visit today. Coz i think this is an advise from heaven...i suppose. I hope my friend will continue to lead a happy life. BTW, he still not very successfull in detaching himself from the money thing, just much better than he was 2 years back. Coz 70% of the conversation with him this afternoon was about analyzing the ups and downs of the stock market. Well, at least not 100%. Is good enough already.

Monday, July 6, 2009

mY toP 5 woRsT ciNeMA ExPeriEnCe


mY toP 5 woRsT ciNeMA ExPeriEnCe
Click to view larger image.




Less of talking. Just let the sketch do the talking.

No.1
SOMEONE NEXT TO YOU FALL ASLEEP AND START SNORING ALL THE WAY TILL THE END. YOU WANNA KNOCK HIS HEAD WITH YOUR SHOE, BUT THE PENDIDIKAN MORAL SUBJECT YOU LEARNT IN SCHOOL SEEMS TO HAVE SOME EFFECT ON YOU...CAUSING YOU TO HOLD BACK AND CONTINUE ENDURE THIS PAINFUL MOVIE NIGHT TILL THE END...T.N.S....


You SLEEP at your home, please!




No.2
YOU FOUND SOME F*ckER WHO KEEPS REPEATING THE STORYLINE TO HIS FRIEND...


Tell ya...the HERO gonna DIE after this...




No.3
SEATED IN FRONT OF YOU IS A DISTANT RELATIVE OF YAO MING, HIS HEAD BLOCKING HALF OF YOUR VIEW ON THE SCREEN, AND YOU WISH YOU COULD TRIM IT USING A PAIR OF GRASS TRIMMER.

No.4
THOSE WHO TALKS ON HIS HANDPHONE LIKE HISGRANFATHER OWNS THE CINEMA...


YoU REaLLY NeeD TO be sO tALL mEh?




No.5
THE TICKET IS SELLING LIKE HOT CAKES, AND YOU ARE THE UNLUCKY ONE HAVING THE FIRST ROW OF SEAT. NICE VIEW, MAN! I MEAN...THE SUBTITLES PART ONLY...


AIYO! NeCk pAIN LaR!


Sunday, May 10, 2009

bus sToP cHicKEN RiCE, the bEST in towN!


BUS STOP CHICKEN RICE
Click to view larger image.

BUS STOP CHICKEN RICE


"It's very hot here! And yet no air cond! And look at the queue...don't you think is a little foolish?" As I remember saying to the friend who brought me there for the first time. But as soon as the food was inside the mouth, I'm convinced, I'm surprised, I understand WHY, and I'm feeling great. I feel like I'm on heaven!

Somewhere on this planet there is this one small town called S.K., and the village is dotted with many2 nice foods. Above them all, there is one that I can say is the signature food of the town. It's the chicken rice. Not the regular roasted one, but this is special. It's "white chicken rice" as the local calls it. BUt I think it is one of the variant of Hainanese Chicken Rice.


It's a bus stop next to it.

It's a bus stop next to it



The Chicken Rice Stall.

The Chicken Rice Stall


If you were to ask me the name of the shop, i'll have to ask the seller. The shop or stall, as I would call it, does not really have a sign board. So, everybody starts to give names while trying to refer that place for lunch. Among all, the best suited one would be this "bus stop chicken rice", Coz the stall is just next to one. The bus stop is the landmark that you surely have to look for if you were to search for this place. Hence, this is how the name comes. But I don't think the chicken rice boss knows that. Maybe I'll tel him next time. Unless he put up a signboard, i'll continue to call it that way. I'll call it MY way.

The chicken Rice basically consists of chicken, rice and sauce. Chicken is very very very smooth! I've gotta repeat these a few times to actually illustrate how smooth it is. The chicken skin, especially can be used as a substitute for banana skin if you were to play a trick on someone you hate. Very slippery! And the chicken is coated with a nice aroma of oily sauce, some sweetness together with the tenderly meat! Arrgghhh!!! I shouldn't be writing this before my lunch...


baNaNa skin substitute.




And the second part is the RICE. They call it oil rice. Yellowish white in color, these rice is superb! The superb aroma of ginger and garlic is so strong that the whole place is engulfed in this smell of chicken rice. The way they make it, the rice are not sticky, no too wet nor too dry. And everytime I go there, I sure to order another extra bowl of rice to top up. It's just so tasty.


The fragrance of the RICE...see the chart.




And the 3rd element of a nice chicken rice is the SAUCE. This is the "catalyst" that brings the chicken rice to the top of the sky. Dip the chicken meat and mix it with the oily rice, the combination can send you on cloud 9 straight away. Ooo...I love it! Until now, I still do not know what is inside the sauce. But I can make a clever guess. There are some finely minced red chilli, green chilli, ginger, some garlic maybe? and some sesame or chicken oil I think, and sugar must have been added inside, coz it's sweet also.


It's the saUCE that rocks!




The best part of this chicken rice is that it's sold at a reasonable price. Though the price has increased over the years (especially after last year's oil hike), it is still considered a cheap street food.


reAsonaBLe pricing!





my custom dESigN for the sigNBoarD!




BTw, I'm considering to ask the boss whether he can teach me his chicken rice recipe or not, with a fee maybe. But I doubt it. First, I'm not a Hainanese. Secondly, do you think the boss will risk his business to some chap who might one day open a chicken rice stall next to his? So, is anybody out there who can teach me how to make delicious Hainanese Chicken Rice? A friend of mine, Mr "CUTEbanana" as he calls himself, says that he will open a chicken rice shop if he got fired as an engineer. I think the recipe might be useful to him too! So, someone with expert cooking talent, please help me! Or help this *cute* BANANA friend of mine!

p/s: Maybe I will propose my design of the stall's signboard to the boss in exchange for his recipe...do you guys think it will work?

Monday, February 23, 2009

I bought myself a camera…


I bought myself a camera!
Click to view larger image.

I bought myself a camera!

This is old news, but still worth mentioning. I would want to remind myself that I bought a pretty expensive camera last Christmas, compared with what I have been earning so far. And by writing it down here, I think it will serve as a reminder to me...USE IT WELL...USE IT WELL...

First of all, why an SLR? Answer is simple. I don't want to see any blurry, out of focus pictures anymore! Using the normal point and shoot camera is just too frustrating, especially if you have a nice scenery, only to find it blurred on the computer screen back home. Well, don't you agree? Nice scenes and leng luis are hard to come by...once you miss the chance, there probably won't be any second chance to take it...


Many many BUTTONS ar!




As a beginner in photography, everything seems so new to me. There are just so many new words, Aperture Priority, Shutter Priority, AE Lock, metering, EV, etc etc etc...with all the different buttons plastered all around the camera body. Many many buttons. So many that it took you a while before I could actually remember all the functions. However, lucky (or rather unlucky) for me, I have a bunch of photog-fever colleagues who helps learning much faster.

Well, my colleagues are partly responsible for me buying the camera. You know, one tries to poison another to buy, the other gets poisoned, and everyone starts poisoning each other and finally ALL is poisoned. The one who gets poisoned worst...are the one who starts the poisoning first. That's the story...


All the camera BIG GUNS




I have learned that camera manufacturers out there are also aware of this phenomenon, the growing popularity of photography as a hobby. That's why we see all of them jostling each other for the market share. Canon, Nikon, Sony, Olympus, Pentax, Fuji...all has many ranges of camera to offer. All waiting to POISON us all. And Flickr too, is part of it. In fact, is LARGE part of it. Nothing to say here. One willing to sell, the other willing to buy.


PORTRAIT...see the CAT over there?




I think I like portraits photos more than anything else. At least I like to see them. Taking them is a bit of problem here, as it requires the greatest skills, and models are not that much. Simply taking other people's photos is another way to solve it, but it may bring unwanted troubles. Privacy is the word they gonna shout at you. So, to avoid these, the only thing you could do is to take your close friends and families or even YOUR CAT as the temporary model.

Yeah...i think i gonna try dolls later...anyone got extra cutie, kawaii dolls to borrow?

I don't have much to say this time. Just no mood. Next time...next time...


MACRO...see the BOKEH effect back there? :)





SPORT MODE...





Landscape...must use WIDE ANGLE LENS


Tuesday, February 3, 2009

What “gonG Xi Fa cHai” meaN to YoU?


What "gonG Xi Fa cHai" meaN to YoU?
Click to view larger image.

What

"Gong Xi Fa Chai!"
"Gong Hei Fatt Choi!"
"Happy Chinese New Year!"
It's the Chinese New Year! It's the Chinese New Year! 2009! How's your CNY cellebration? Happy? Boring? Or just another holiday with some red fonts on your calendar?

What "gonG Xi Fa cHai" meaN to a child?

*Fireworks*

I have been through many CNYs, and over the years, I've noticed something obvious about how the general Chinese population see it. Even for myself, the meaning of CNY has changed dramatically. The celebration seems to have lost the meaning i.e., nobody seems to care WHY and WHAT they are celebrating...CNY? It's just another holiday

As a child in the olden days, the single most fascinating activities during CNY is playing fireworks. THAT was the meaning of CNY for me those days. I used to play all sorts of fireworks, from the childish one (with negligable small explosion) to the big boys fireworks that has the explosion effect that can match those of a dynamite. There are just so many possibilities and ways of lighting and playing with fireworks, where the only limit is your imagination! Of coz, there are some minor accidents along the way, and we'll get scolded sometimes by the adults, but I've never regretted doing so.


The only LIMIT, is your IMAGINATION!




But over time, too many fireworks-related-accidents happened, and the government finally put an end to fireworks. Means NO FIREWORKS for the rest of the history of Malaysia. T.N.S.! W.T.F.! @$#@$$#@$@! Nevertheless, some minority of peole still do able to smuggle them into the hands of those who is willing to pay the price. But just a very very small percentage.

It's a pity that children nowadays had missed something as great as fireworks in their childhood. The over protective parents nowadays, is sure to deter their children from laying their hands on the fireworks. "No...boy-boy, it's very dangerous! Nyeh nyeh nyeh...bla bla bla bla..." Just hate it so much when I hear any parent saying this... no wonder children nowadays are glued to the computer monitor playing online RPG games...sooo booorriiinng!

And becoz of this, there is not much CNY mood around nowadays. I still recall the time when I was small, 90% of the time I can hear firecrackers here and there, where the atmosphere was so lively! But look at it now, what can you hear? All I can hear is flies and mosquitoes flying around...and some artificial firecracker sounds from the TV. T.N.S.!


The MOOD was so LiVELY those daYs!




What "gonG Xi Fa cHai" meaN to a child?

*AngPoWs! $$$ Red Packets! $$$*

This, for me is the 2nd most exciting thing to look forward to in CNY as a child. This is where all the financing for the PLaYStation and Nitendo Wii come from! There more relatives you have got, the more angpows you'll get! It's just that simple! But although quantity counts, the *quality* of the angpow is sometimes more important, don't u agree? Nevertheless, I am already happy to get angpow those times, the amount doesn't really matter lah...


anGPoW time!




What "gonG Xi Fa cHai" meaN to a child?

*Foodies!*

It's the 3rd most important thing to look forward to in CNY. Nien Kou is my favourite. This sticky little delicacy where you can only taste it once every year, is soooooo delicious! Yummy! Other yummy cookies are the spring roll, kuih kapit and honeycomb biscuits. These are oily foods. Overdose of these can have irreversible effect on the waist line, really. But to a small kid, what the ****! "GuLP!, RELoaD!, GuLP!, RELoaD!, GuLP!"


Nien Kou is my favourite!




What "gonG Xi Fa cHai" meaN to adults?

*OuCh!*

For the adults, generally CNY is something that means NIGHTMARE, especially so if you are a married man/women. Expenditures on angpows alone can come out to thousands or so, and all the preparation for the CNY occasion and house makeover, will burn a dEEP hole in the wallet. Can you see it? What goes around comes around. All those angpows that you get as a child, you'll have to return it back! ;)


Burn a dEEP dEEP HoLE!




What "gonG Xi Fa cHai" meaN to adults?

*LAdies and gentlemen...showOFF time!*

CNY is also a time when some long time buddy and schoolmates will have gathering annually and talk shit exchange info/knowledge. Initially, it's like "How do you do" sort of thing...then it gradually becomes a place of building business relationship. Then, people started distributing name cards and exchanging phone numbers and emails. That is still OK for me. But things start get a bit over when one or two rotten tomatoes started with "I'm the MANAGER of XXX company now" thingy. And then everyone will be like asking each other like where is their most recent trip overseas? Europe? Japan? Australia? And some will purposely accidentally hint that they are their own boss, and having a company to run, and that they have the latest Ferrari at the back of their garage. I really envy and admire them, and I am happy that they are successful in life. But just that sometimes I feel *down* when the same guy just now asked me how have I been doing, and I would be speechless... :(


I'm the mANAZER now! yOU Leh?





What "gonG Xi Fa cHai" *SHOULD* meaN to YoU and mE?

*REUnioN!*

I tried to think very hard why our ancestor invent such a thing as Chinese New Year. I think I got the answer. It's not for ANY the reasons I have just mentioned. It's a celebration where all our family members gather together and have a hearty meal, have fun, and to remind ourselves that no matter what, we are still a FAMILY!
And "gonG Xi Fa cHai" *SHOULD* meaN THIS to YoU and mE...


"gonG Xi Fa cHai" *SHOULD* meaN THIS to YoU and mE...




So how's your "gonG Xi Fa cHai" celebration going?

Monday, January 5, 2009

The creDit cRuncH; yR 2008 deja-Vu of The Great Depression


The creDit cRuncH 2008
Click to view larger image.

The creDit cRuncH 2008


For the past few months, the financial section of the local newspaper is filled with many many negative news. It's in these times that I could see some very BiG, BoLD, and ConTrasTy fonts plastered across the tabloid like nobody's business. Business section suddenly become the main part of the newspaper.


Stock pLuNGeS all over the world

Stock pLuNGeS all over the world


On the next day when the Dow Jones fell 25%, I've seen a very steep drop in the index graph on the paper..so steep that it's like a ravine among the mountains. And everywhere, you could see RED more than GREEN. A look into the stockboard, and you'll know what I mean.


The Credit Crunch

The Credit Crunch


That week, I learned one new term. It's called Credit Crunch. Not the Coco Crunch that you took when you're a kid. Not that one. As far as I know, its the tumbling of the financial giants due to their mortgage based investments gone bad. Which also means that people cannot pay what they borrowed from the banks. Thats how giants like Lehman Brothers got bankrupt and trigger a super chain reaction of 'kABooMs' all over the world's financial markets.

If you happen to see the faces of the traders at the NYSE, you'll notice the contrast were so obvious. From a happy and joyful look a few months earlier in the stock rally to the frightened, weeping, and disappointed look that very week. Frankly speaking, I don't know how much they have lost, but I do know they've lost almost everything.


Some will have to JUMP

Some will have to JUMP


They say that this is similar to the Great Depression in the 1930s. I don't know what that was, but I guess I had gone through one similar one during my early childhood days, the Asian Financial Crisis of 1997. Back then, I could recall clearly that many businesses were gone and went bankrupt. Stocks are so undervalued, that many are holding a stacks of useless paper. Also heard a lot of unofficial news of stock traders jumping off to suicide, coz they owed so much money, they'll never be able to pay it for generations. It's either they get chased by the banks, or worse still by the AH LONGS that they borrowed money from.


Some will have get chased by AH LONGS

Some will have get chased by AH LONGS


It reminds me of a TVB series called “The Greed of Man” a.k.a. 大时代, starring Lau Ching Wan. The drama is also about the ups and downs of the stock market in Hong Kong, and how much grieves it has brought to people there. And I foresee things are repeating again and again...

And most of all, I still think there is some minority out there who is winning BIG out of this. Those, you call them BIG FISH. The one who lose, the MAJORITY, are the SMALL FISH. For me, this game of stock is always the game of BIG FISH eating the SMALL FISH. And this time around, many SMALL FISHES are in DEEP SHIT. Some are lucky to escape early enough, but majority are just like hopeless SMALL FISHes waiting to become somebody's dish.


The BIG FISH and small fish theory

The BIG FISH and small fish theory


Hopefully, this is not gonna last too long. And by the way, this is a good time for BIG FISH thinking alikes to start FISHING!
Happy FisHinG!