Filling in my void period

For weeks, I had left my blog untouched, which is an indication that final of everything is rolling near.

I just came back from a mid night movie, watching "You are Apple of My Eyes".
And it was my second time watching it.

Some people might think I am over exaggerate about this movie.

After my first time watching it with my friends, almost all of them will said the similar thing.

" I am so miss my high school life, it really make my memory flashing back all the sweet and sour incident" said by Tom, Dick and Harry

Actually I was about to blog about this movie after my first time watching it because it was so nice. But I did not. Actually I want to write about how nostalgia and how I miss my high school life because of this movie and experiences that were similar.

My feeling was pumping like mad and so excited to blog about it. But......

Nothing came out as I could hardly memorize anything or find any similarity in my high school life with how the movie portray it should be.

For me, it was like a void period that I could hardly remember anything particular. In other word, it is darn boring.

But I do really love this movie. Because this movie tells me how exciting to be in high school.

After watching this movie, I am dead envy with the movie's hero as well as silently falling in love with the heroin. And of course, it had beautifully filling in my missing puzzle in high school.

So, High school life should be like that ya.

It is my deepest regret that I could not read in Chinese. Because if I could read Chinese, I will love to start collecting Gidden novel and especially "You are Apple of My Eyes" novel and read it up once more.

Anyway, few more weeks to go and I will be leaving my tertiary education. I am glad that my Uni Life is so memorable especially my first year and second year which will follow me till my death bed.

Some time I kinda rush in certain aspect during my Uni Life. Perhaps it is because I hope to fill in my missing puzzle during the void period.

Financial Freedom II ?

Few second ago, I saw a picture from Facebook. Most of the people take it as good joke. But for me, I saw the reality.

From the picture, you can see people from all kind of life. Starting from the right is a young adult probably just stepped into working world and decided to buy a car, thus borrowing $8,0000+ loan from bank.

And we then along the way we saw all sort people having loan from bank too either maybe for business expansion, house loan or credit card debt.

And it seem, The beggar who is obviously not eligible for loan, is having a Net Worth More than everyone else.

You can start to laugh on this picture but if you start to think deeply and look around your families. You will start seeing yourself and your families inside this picture.

Me for example, before going out to work, already having RM21,000 debt with bank and now hoping for another loan extension to be approved. But the cash in my bank is not even half of that and I have no assets that is worthy. So, my net worth is -VE.

It is true that any beggar on the street have higher net worth than me.

So, I told myself that my net worth will be +ve as soon I found a good paying job and start working my ass off. But, when the time came when I am about to pay off my study loan, I will start thinking of changing my car as my car will be so old by then, or maybe over swiped my credit card on my camera accessories.

Means, more debt to pay. And bank will become a very happy man taking my hard earning money.

Question is, when is the time I could fully paid my loan and start enjoying 100% of my salary ? I not even dare to start thinking about financial freedom yet. After I see my father, who still in-debt with bank for another 17 years to come even at the age of near retirement. I start to get tired even before stepping in my father shoes.

So, after realizing all of this thing... I knew I must find a way out of this Rat Race.

Financial Freedom I ?

One Week ago, I had read upon a book written by Robert Kiyosaki.

It was interesting and managed to almost finish it in a day. But I left few pages more for the next day cause I was sleepy that time.

This book really gave me a big slap on my brain-face and it made me  to start thinking of my future.

Ever heard of financial freedom ?

LOL, on first thought it sound like someone got so broke that he owned not a single dime.

Haha, but really, it mean one have achieve a level of life that enable him to stop working for money and have totally no worry about his financial status.

But who really know how to achieve that ?

I have been thinking of this for a time and I have google for the solution and had been asking opinion on people senior than me like my uncle.

I had enlightened a lot but it is not enough as still do not get the answer I want. The journey of answer seeking will continue and I shall share my finding with all of you.

meanwhile, bye.

An English Name

Feel like naming myself an English name.

Actually have this thought in mind for a long time but just don't know where to start. Having an English name will be easier for people to remember my name upon first introduction.

Often I have to repeat my name twice every time I met new people. Though people will soon familiar with my name but without doubt it is hard to memorize at first.

Hence, before I start stepping out to work or ending myself in new environment and meeting new people, I guess I would need to make up my mind to start using an English name.

How Jonathan sound ?

USA or New Zealand ?

Recently I have put a lot of attention in this Work & Travel program that I believe is pretty popular among varsities students.

Taking off few months at oversea before jumping yourself fully in your career and enjoy a free life on a stranger land.

I have never went to New Zealand but its amusing tales had reached my ear all the while. I always wanted to try to live in a place where its scenery was like story-tales. Too beautiful to be described by words.

Hence my chances are here. I am glad that Work & Travel program got covered New Zealand region too. So, being a little afraid of going alone, I start to recruit friends.

And most of em are prefer to USA and if not, not interested at all. Some say, New Zealand is too small and some say USA have more place to travel.

What they say is correct. New Zealand is a country that have it size almost equivalent to Malaysia. Perhaps its attraction spot is far lesser than USA.

But my heart tell me to go for New Zealand. As the tales I heard from people came back from New Zealand were so fantastic and I could truly see their agitated emotion when describing their journey.

For that, I knew it is not USA but New Zealand that I would like to set my foot for months. It is okay that it is a small country which lack of technology advancement. I just want to live once in a place that truly preserved their environment and drank the freshest milk in the world right there.

Cameron Highland escapade

There is a saying,

It is now, or Never

my final sem was half-gone and soon I will be facing unimaginable crazy shits ahead. So, meanwhile there is still some time to waste and spare money to flush,

Here we went, Cameron Highland Malaysia.



To reach here, we had went through almost an hour of dizziness driving up the curvy hills. But it was definitely worth it at the end when the cool breeze of clean air blow through our skins.

I would recommend that before reaching Tanah Rata try to make a stop at the famous LATAR ISKANDAR waterfall. After hour of dizziness journey up the hills, you will definitely would love to wash your face with icy cool water fresh from the hill itself.



But if you are heading to Cameron Highland from north using Simpang Pulai road, then you would not pass-by this waterfall on your journey. As I am coming from south, it is a sure bypass attraction spot.

Do try the fried banana that sold by hawker stall along side the road. It was so crunchy and thick.

Because it was raining season now, we were facing inconsistent whether throughout our journey. Rain and Sun seems to become a really good friends because it can be rainy few minutes and then hot afterward. This trend keep on alternating throughout days.

The first place we visited Cameron Highland was the Boh Tea Plantation.

Compared to Borath Tea Plantation, I would say this is a lot tougher to reach. The road was tight and a lot of sharp corners which are extremely dangerous. You will need to horn all the way up each time you reaching a corner to signaled the incoming cars from opposite direction.

And we need to do a little climbing as well.



After a long hike, treat yourself with a nice cup of red tea. Do order slices of cakes especially the Banana-Carrot Cakes as it goes very well with the hot red tea while enjoying the great view of Cameron.



Try to imagine yourself as a noble enjoying great tea time with your high-class friends on top of a hill. Haha, It is fun.

Cameron Highland is all about Veges, Tea, Fruits and scenery. Almost all of the attraction spot will offered the same thing. Well, do not get disappointed by it because this is what Cameron is about.

The place to eat steamboat will be non other than Cameron Highland. Of course, Genting Highland could be the alternative as the weather is cold as well. But does it provides fresher veges than Cameron ? No

Big, fat and crunchy veges along with sweet soup base in an icy cold weather... I can't describe enough with words alone. You gotta try it yourself.

If you are having enough with City Life and hopes to escape to some place that is peace with great scenery. Cameron would be my highest recommendation.

I think I said before last time, that I will build a Vila some day in future on top of Cameron Highland Hill and live there for the rest of my life after I retire.

Who have the same thinking like me ? Hahaha

How to be a Man ?

Days now,

nobody really knows what a man should look like. It came to a point where man means human being with penis and balls hanging on his crotch.

For girls, young teenagers especially, when some beefy guys with charming face and talk with a really nice macho accent pass by em. They get electrocuted and they called it ' Soooo Man'.

It appeared the 'Men' criteria had went down to just appearance factor.

Well, I am a big guys that love to show my excess arm's meat very often. Not that I want to, buy my arms are very prone to sweat. And I always get involved in task/help that required muscles... often I get praise 'Very Man' for that.

To my ashamed, I do not deserved it because being a 'Men' required more than just Muscles alone. Below are the Top 10 criteria to be a real Men.

No 1. Real Man is strong.

A men do not cry, moan, complains and went to doctor every time he sneezes. A real men is tough and has no time for weakness. Be it good time or shit-falling condition, a men will firm on his stance and take on whatever comes to him up-front. While providing his back as cover for the people that trusted him.

No 2. Real Man is Focused

A men stayed focused all the time. He knows well what he is doing and don't waste time on stupidity. A very good quote from Don Corleone (GodFather 1972) said, "Women and children can make mistakes, but not Men". 

No 3. Real Man knows the importance of family

A real man keep his family strong and and pass on his 'ancestor' history and tradition. No matter how the world had advanced nowadays, man shouldn't forget his root and he will make sure the responsibility do not die in his hand. 

No 4. Real Man doesn't gossip.

Real men do not engaged in girly talks. He shelters information and do not reveal more than he has to. He doesn't talk about things he do not sure and people that he do not know about.

No 5. A real Man word is His Bond

When a man make promises, he will make sure it get delivered. If not, he wouldn't promise. He would rather die than breaking them. Hence, men is rationed his word.

No 6. Real Men strives to be a role model

Real Men do not afraid of being followed. They knows that they are confident and nothing will goes wrong. Men love reputation and being respected. He will walk his talk and set a good example for his disciple.

No 7. A real man makes his own fortune.

A real men doesn't satisfied with free hand-out from charity. They spitted on lady luck and fight for their own fortune. If his papa gave him fortune, he will makes it 10 times more. 

No 8. A real man doesn't look like a woman.

No long hairs, no ear piercing and sparkling accessories on his body. He kept his hair short and smart. And his appearance clean and tidy. Aside of his barber, all of his personal hygiene need to be taken care by women.

No 9. A real man doesn't play blame and excuses.

If he make a mistake, he waste no time for excuses, ready for punishment and will take it like a men. If shits occurred, he ain't no playing blame game with sissies and kick start for solution.

No 10. A real man can defend himself.

He do not hide on other backside. Whether verbally or physically, he could defend himself just fine.

So hard to become a men ain't it? Seriously, it is hard to find man with such criteria nowadays. Perhaps it is because of cultural changes and assimilation. Perhaps, women today was stronger and need no men to one-man-show already. Well, maybe world today do not need men to achieve such criteria already..

But I still think, such criteria very cool. Hope in time, I will slowly achieve all 10 of above said criteria.

Mag Shi : Portrait Album @ Lake Garden

Finally I had done it !

It was one of my goal to shoot a portrait photography of my uni friends before I graduate.

Being a no profile and totally newbie photog, convincing someone to work with me as a model is difficult. But thanks to a good pretty friend of mine. MagShi, she placed a great trust on me and mine work and hence agreed to become my subject of portrait shooting.

I said before, every photographer had their signature. It mean it is unique and others could spot his work by just looking on it. And I believe too, that I have my own signature or style in photography that no others could produce the same.

It is somewhere and I could not find it yet. Until I slowly discovered it from working on Mag Shi portrait.

I have been working and trying out different style in portrait presentation like flare effect on background.

A vintage style photography

As well as dreamy / soft tone style

In ideal photography aspect, those style above was actually run off from its actual white balance. Tweaking of color tone, color temperature and the RGB curves will most probably deviate further from the actual original color.

Talking about my style, I was actually preferred a photo with the correct white balance and sharp color contrast without much effect.

But, I do know this kind of photo without effects was darn boring sometimes. And it might lost the 'feel' element which is one of the most important part in the photo.

Hence I learnt the importance of style like B&W, Vintage, Lomo, ambient and etc which could work very well in covering flaws too. Nonetheless, I am still a big fan of correct white balance with perfect color tuning photos.

Ideal White balance, nice contrast, sharp, nice color and CLEAN without much alteration in color. Good as it is.

This was a very good experience and self discovery for me. And if you guys wish to followed my full work on MagShi portrait.

Here is the link SunShine Magshi | Holim@photography

I am a lucky guy to have this pretty model for my first portrait shooting and going to hunt my 2nd, 3rd and so on next. Hahaha, wish me luck !

Photo Newbie Dilemma.

Every Photographer have their unique style of shooting photos. Some prefer B&W, some Vintage and others prefer the color originality of the photo without doing much tweaking.

Each of em can be astonishing in its way.

Recently I am trying to shoot some serious portrait. Which mean, I will need a human model. Communication become very important as photographer and the model must sync and understand each other in order to pump story into the pictures. That is what others called it 'feel'.

I am a newbie in photography world. And have totally zero experience in portrait shooting. But I do have my own unique style of shooting and presenting my photos.

However, I am not a pro. People don't find me to take photograph, instead I have to do it otherwise. It is pretty normal for most of the newbie who do not yet earned their reputation.

But I faced a dilemma. And I think some newbie out there like me, facing the same problem too.

Question is, should we the newbie shoot and present the photo according to the model liking or follow our own style ?

Every photographer have their own unique style since they start their photography life. It was like a signature for them. But, newbie like me, am I qualified to talk about my style yet ?


I may don't know everything, but I do know, if we aimed to be like others, we will always be the second.

A table of warmth dishes.

Everyday I will race with bloody traffic jam in order to get home in time for a nice warmth dinner. I don't know since when I started to really love eating at home.

Or shall I say, I started to appreciate Mom's cook.

I had stayed away from home for several years due to study. Except for holiday, I rarely ate at home. Most of the time I will settle my meal outside with simple economic rice, noodles and Mamak Stall.

This final sem, I decided to stay at home and traveled to Uni everyday for study. And having dinner at home had become one of my habit already. Unless there are really important matter to hold me up, without second thought I will start racing with traffic to get a hold on a bowl of warmth rice.

Mom's cook is the best. Always.

The combination of dishes are different everyday. And not to mention it is extremely healthy to eat. Even at excessive amount. Now I start to understand why guy love to find a wife who could cook.

Cause I found the satisfaction of it. My class was ended mostly on 5 p.m. And sometime I will went for a swim in Uni. When I joined the traffic to go home, my stomach was seriously growling for foods.

When reached home, and rushed to kitchen to see a table full of tasty dishes. Can you imagine the bliss that I am having ?

Girls, I know now is modern era. Girls want to work too, don't wan stay at home cooking and raise children. But, sometime, a table of warmth dishes might be the most effective way to lock a husband heart.

Need to learn ya.

Why should Man treats women better

I have always wondering, why female always trying so hard to fight for male-female equality. I had never give a deep thought of the actual reason why they were trying so hard to earn respect and status that usually enjoyed by male that without going through much effort.

After years of fighting and debating of equality, the world starting to acknowledge them. Hence, they come out with Ladies Night, Ladies Day, Ladies Power, Power Puff Girl and even Girl Friend Day ! and none heard of the same for male. Even train commuter allocate a special coach just for ladies and Jogoya always have special promotion for ladies  (don't they figure out that ladies ate more than guys actually ? duh) .

When we just take a fast glance on these facts, sometime I do think, I envy them.

So, it might be a nice thing to be a woman yo.

But, on a deep thought... being a women, is rather pity. (Not trying to discriminate women here)

Why ?

1. Men and women are both the same species called homo-sapien. But male is borne with genetic that allowed them to develop greater muscle's mass, physical strength and size compare to women. Hence it already determined that male would be a dominant type according to jungle law (Strong eat the weak).

2. Women have fix number of ovum in their ovari. Once their puberty began, the number of ovum start decreasing one by one until it finish. Which mean they had reached the menopause stage which is around 50+ years old. When a women had arrived at this stage, they will start to age very quickly. For men, they can keep on ejaculating tiny little tadpole till their very last breath. If male are still sexually strong enough at age of 80+, heck ! they could still impregnate women and breed another fleet of babies. 

3. Women have a short glorious / attractive period in their life time. As how our trend goes, women arrived at their most attractive period from 18-26. Which is only 8 years ! and after 26, their aging will sped up. This is the time where women usually will be so eager to marry and hence bugging their boy friend to marry them. For men, their glorious moment is unfairly long. It can start as early as 18 and last till 50+ !!! That is freaking 30 years ++ for god sake. I can easily pick few of 40's male artist which is still freaking hot and popular. Donnie Yen and Andy Lau is the selected few. Even Bruce Willis at the age of 50's will have young women dieing for him. But for women, after hitting 40's, it is a good bye bye. Most likely.

I like one of my friend's quote. "Men are very loyal. No matter how old they aged, they will still love the 18's babes."

4. In sex, men never loss anything. But women would. For country such as Malaysia, our culture still not that open and most of the male prefer virgin as their wife. But they wouldn't if their girl friends were not a virgin, but they would strongly preferred that their wife is a virgin. Facts, men loss nothing in sex, except for energy and sperm used which will be replenished anyway. It is hard to tell if a men had sex before. But for girl, it was hard for them to conceal the secret as damaged had done.

5. In birth, men only supply their sperms and women is the one that supply ALL the remaining necessity to the baby! The baby in their mother's womb suck all the rich nutrien from surrounding in order to grow. Not to mention that women will undergo a great pain when delivering their baby. I once saw a video that showed a mom giving birth. The doctor use a scissor to widen the opening by cutting the vulva (the vagina mouth) without anesthetic. Oh my... That's why it is not recommended that a women to undergo another pregnancy before resting well for at least a year.

6. Anyway, there is one thing that women can brag about. That is women tend to live longer than men. It is statistically proven worldwide.

However, it is a win for them ?

Hmm, for what I think it is a win for Men and a lose for women. Imagine that your live long partner had leave you alone for good. You have to start sleeping alone, eat your old men porridge alone and worst of all, crying for self-pity all alone in the room.

And the men, get to die in peace in your arm without going through loneliness. Sometime, live longer compare to other might not be good thing actually.



Maybe that is why women is so demanding. Well, I guess they deserved every right for that.

First ever Recognition from Photography Comunity

Thanks to my good friend, Frank

He shows me the opportunity to participate in a photo shooting outing few weeks ago. With given theme of

9/11 after 10 years, how it impact Malaysia.

We were tasked to shoot something relevant to it around Bukit Bintang area. Get to met a professional photo-journalism Mr. John Ishi who will be mentoring us and giving us some kick-start before hence.

I'm glad that I could learn quite a number of things from him as he telling his exciting adventure of his photo-shooting career. How he sees thing and how he could blend a good story in every picture he took.

Basically, to take a good photo there are 3 important aspect to take care. Sharpness, Composition and Stories.

Well, I might quite okay in producing sharpness but putting a story in a picture... I'm suck at it.

So, Junyen and I tagged along to hunt for places that possibly could get us idea of 9/11. We went to National Mosque and KLCC.

Out of all the photos I took, only one have the impact and feel in it.

After 10 years passed and counting, Malaysia whose claimed to be a Muslim country but having a strong relationship with United States, are we really safe from being targeted ?

And 2 weeks later, this photo won me a Canon Camera Bag. Mr. John said that this picture will be great if there was people element in there walking by, preferably Arabic. So I take note.

Needless to say, I am happy to get this bag. There were a lot of great photos but quite a number of participant failed to attend the Talk-Time session held yesterday. If all of them had been here, I think I will not get this prize though. Hahaha

Anyhow, I get a new camera bag to replace my current lousy bag.

With large compartment and two extra side pocket it means more accessories can be fitted in. Not to mention the thick span inside the bad which will provide extra protection to even professional gear =)



Could I said that my photo shooting is somehow a little being recognized by photography community ? Ha ha ha... Maybe is not, but what harm to make myself happy a bit by believing it.

Operation Uniform Prank

*Alarm ringing* 
*Some voice shouting heard in dark*

"GET UP ! SUIT UP !!  And Go to School Already !!! "


But hey, I am a University student already. Suppose I could wear whatever I want. Torn up jean, black metal wannabe t-shirt and slacky slippers were good enough.

LOL, but being a final year student with only one semester left. We get boring with all these repeated culture and routine.

Talking of doing crazy stuffs in University, everyone talked about that. And it was still remain a talking....

So, the few of us plan to walk the talk. By wearing our long seen secondary uniform to attend lecture.



It was humiliating of course hahaha. With everyone eye-ing on us in the class or outside we might get a little discomfort at first. But,

it mean something special deep inside us. They might think we are crazy and childish. But this was what cowards always do, talk about other while they do not have the gut to do it.

By ignoring the odds, we did it our way =)

And more to come,



We added spice on that by tweak the theme a little. This time we doing school uniform and society outfit theme. So some of us having taekwondo uniform and Red Cresent Uniform.

And we entered the big lecture hall like a Boss !!




I was afraid and about to back down at first, but then I realized that I care too much on public perception instead of my own desire.

I really want to try doing something crazy in university. So here am I, doing it in my own way without taking a shit from what public will think.

We are so going to take along this sweet and silly memory with us to future !


Proud of you guys !!!

And we let the momentum rolling. I changed back to my secondary uniform and with a bunch of crazy friends, we camouflaged our self as secondary student taking a stroll in shopping complex despite of our old looking face. HAHAHA

 

It was so fun to feel young again. I do not know if other noticed the decoy, but we really have a good time doing this.

So what is next in my list ? Any suggestion guys ? = )

Every little cents, do matter Now

Am I sound a little desperate for money ? Well, I have been sitting in house for 3 months during holidays, been to several trips with friends to everywhere and had add some collection to my camera gears.. So, I am a little desperate now.

A little sad because my blog was looking messy with all this Google advertisement and Nuffnang adv. Well, this was one of my cheapskate and lazy way to earn some penny.

I do not know if allowing Google and Nuffnang to advertise on my blog will earn me some significant Ringgits, but I guess I will give it a try.

But I ain't broke la. Still have reserves in my piggy bank, but considering next year graduation trip to infamous Hong Kong where foods and accomodation will be expensive, I guess I need to start worrying.

My Ptptn financial support had came to an end last sem. So, this sem I can't open my palm and ask some lunch from Bank Islam already ! HAHA

Well, since I had decided to live at Kepong instead of college and my credit hours were around 14 or less this sem, I guess the tuition fees will be okay.

Heck! RM 1,400++  was charged !!



Tuition fees alone was only RM 680.40, and with all the god-know extra charging it had amounted to
RM 1,412.40

Oh man, this was too much. Though we are still a lot cheaper than those study in private university.

Now only I seriously realize the importance of Ptptn. All the while Ptptn had paid off the fees for me, so I never ask a single penny from my parent for it. Now, I am all by myself. Well, I intend not to ask from them as they had spent a lot lately for my younger bro who just enrolled in University at Kedah.

My reserves are enough to clear my fees. But after that, I need to start worrying. Hence, one of the solution is to

Extend Ptptn support 



I do not know about how it work in other university or colleges, but I do know how it work in UM. Very simple in fact you can settle the procedure in one day if you got all they need.

I just done it.

If you are in shit-hole like me too, and you need further assistance from Ptptn, here is what you should do.

1) Get the blue form from Hep. It is still located at KPS third floor. Use the stairs that was between the building that have citra office and building that have Digi, photostat shop and Barber !

2) Make a copy of your exam result slip every semester. I don't think the exam result from Umisisweb can do the job. Photocopy the actual exam result slip to play safe. If you lost some of it, you can ask from SKR
at Exam Building. And get it verified(cop and signed) by either HEP / SKR.

3) Apply for a letter of support from your respective faculty to support your application of extension. Might need 3 working days to get it. Depend on your faculty's management.

4) The University offer letter ( Surat Tawaran Kemasukan University ). Hohoho, don't tell me you lose that cause I do not know where to find a substitute of it. And make a copy of it and get verified either by HEP/SKR.

That all folks.. ring the table bell in HEP and have it submitted.

All left to do is waiting. I not sure if it will get approved because our government seem got big problem with their piggy bank already. So lets cross our finger together and hope it will arrived in time to save our asses.

GodSpeed !!!

So what now ?

I talked a lot about my personal issues, I talked a lot about my hobbies, I talked a lot about politics,
so, what is the something missing inside this blog ?

If you noticed, I rarely mentioned about my result. I always talk about how I will fight from tooth to toe in exam hall, submerged myself in nescafe's pool just to stay awake for one week to save my last-minute ass for exam sake and etc.

But aftermath, you will never heard from me.

lulz, one need not a rocket scientist to guess right ?

All the while I am really serious and almost-like Kamikaze style in doing prepartion (though most of them were last-minute hugging buddha leg type). My younger bro always said I am really determined and mentally strong in doing my revision.. so my effort can be rated A. However my result shows the otherwise....

Anyway, not that bad la on average. I scored averagely 3.20 +- each sem. So, my hope to getting First Honor was pretty well flushed down to drain.

Until some turning point happened, last sem...



How I did this ? lolz... I have no idea. First time throughout my University life, this was the first time I scored straight in pointer.

To my surprise I was actually getting an A for my thesis 1. Did I mentioned I was toasted and pawned  by 2 iron-fist examiner when I was presenting my thesis 1 ?

Damn, miracle do happened. Last time I was still thinking I was stupid to try out new thing like Android instead of playing safe by building the ever boring website. Hmm, but now might be a different story.

Anyhow, because I have been playing around since my first year, having a full pointer can't save my ass much you see. My CGPA only increased by 0.87 this sem.

My first honor was pretty much.... Nucleared

Even by getting the final 4.00 this sem, it wont do any good either.. still stayed in second honor. Well... I guess reality is something I have to accept. So now, should I work damn hard to get the next 4.00 but knowing that I will still stay in Second Honor , or relax..... cukup cukup makan okay la..

Hahaha... well, will decide that later.. anyhow, it sound quite cool to be in dean list



But I never figured out what is that mean ? The Dean will baby sit you ? If you broke / hungry or something.. you can find them ? lol whatever it mean.

Hangout @ Singapore

.

This was another Ma-lat-lou (Bunch of dudes without GF) trip. How pity. Hope I could find dates for trip next time.

Hope it do not sound that sad, because it was fun actually to hang out with the usual good friends.

This trip was planned last minutes when it all started by just normal chatting in Facebook. Our passport still valid, we get a green-light to crash into Ming Tat apartment at Tiong Bharu, and Bus ticket can be purchased online.

So, why not ? a few clicks and we were good to go to Singapore.

Thanks to Jun Yen research (gosh, why he is so hardworking !) he recommended us to buy Konsortium Express online. With only MYR 35.10 We can straightaway cruise from KL to Singapore.

It took about 5 hours to reach Singapore, and 30 minutes+ of it was wasted on Malaysia custom. Of course, a long jam we encountered.

My first sight on Singapore was building with flags hanging on them. Lots of them ! This was something rather rare in Malaysia. Singaporean do really appreciate their independence ?

As this was my first time landing myself in Singapore, it really open my eyes and overwrite my previous thought on it. For what I think of Singapore was:

1) It have the worst traffic jam ever. Because it was a small country with high population.

2) A stone-forest. Where no greens will be preserved. Heck, their land was as valuable as gold, how can it be spared for gardens and forest ?

But I was wrong....




The roads in the city were not jam and they have a lot of greenery everywhere ! And to my surprise...

They have river too ! Not sure if it was a big drain, but it look pretty clean and clear to me. Now tell me, where could I find a clean river in our city ?

I do realize that it was Raya Holiday week that time, so without doubt the hotels and motel will make a killing on us. But we got a solution for that which is why we visited Singapore.

We got to stay for free ! And I am not talking about 3-4 people cramped in a small room. We will be living in a decent service department which was fully furnished.

An apartment with fully-equip air-cond.

3 equal size bed rooms for us.

And a fully working kitchens for us to play fire, literally lol. Really, it did save us a lot of money by cooking. Do not underestimate Ma-Lat-Lou capability to cook. If we starve, we can come out with something nice too.

By the way, who is so rich and kind enough to let us crush in this apartment ? Credit was belong to my friend Edmund. He and his friends was doing their intern in Singapore during holiday. Their intern came to an end but theirs rental agreement did not. They move back to Malaysia anyway and leaving this apartment free for us to crash in. That mean we could actually rot in there for 1-2 weeks till the contract end. Cool isn't ?

Since we have so much time to kill, what were we doing in Singapore anyway ?


We went to Sentosa for sight-viewing and of course, crash in their casino for free drinks.



Watched some free shows at Lake of Dreams.

Not that cool compared to Marina Bay. And that was how we spent our first day. Before we hit the sack, we got ourselves a supper at Singapore Mamak.



Speaking of Kiasuness, I believe it was what we always heard about Singaporean. But I must see and experience with our own eyes. So here I was, in a local Mamak cafe flipping through their menu. I am looking for the cheapest foods available as I do not plan to waste my limited SGD on this crap. So when I am decided to order the roti kosong, Heck ! it stated minimum 2 pieces per order.

Lol, in Malaysia you can order one air-kosong and sit in any mamak to enjoy a football match. But here, in order to enjoy their air-cond, they impose some rules to not lose-out.

Do you know only in Malaysia, you could re-fill your coke / coffee in MCD but you can't do that in Singapore ? Sorry man if I offended any Singaporean reader here. Just stating what I saw.

But I am very impress with their culture and road ethic.

Singapore is a place where road priority is on pedestrian first and everything come second. They have almost pedestrian crossing lane and red-light traffic for pedestrian on every possible junctions. Unlike Malaysia, you cross on your own risk.. expect some respect from rude driver ? they rather run you down first and then blame you for that !

I love their public transport system the most. Especially the Mass Rapid Transit.



It was mind blowing to experience myself their high level of efficiency of handling their system. We were not afraid going out from house during peak hours. No matter how many people were there, we surely could get on board on the first train we see. Less than 5 minutes for every transit ? That was so damn cool. It really defy the law of logic when the more peak the hour was, the more frequent the train came.

Unlike Malaysia, speaking of that bloody bastard KTM, on non-peak hour  = 20 minutes per transit, and when the peak hour came.. hohoho, my favorite... minimum 35minutes per transit and there was no maximum time on it. You could be waiting for 2 hours for that !

My friends told me Singaporean love looking down. I not mean the are looking down on people in this case (but I do agree some of them are looking down on Malaysian) In transit, everyone have an incredible phone, and they love playing it all the time. Maybe this is how they kill the time when boarding the transit. If it was not that data plan and the phone itself was so expensive in Malaysia, I would love to be like them too.

Actually we are not that cheapskate by having all the meal in house. We do ate outside some time.

Such as this nice bowl of porridge with frog-legs.  It was my first time eating a frog. Well, it do taste like crab meat for me. Nothing to be shout about, quite nice I would say.

And Wanton-Mee at Tiong Plaza food court. The portion was small and taste was slightly below average. SGD 4 for this. Damn, I always have to remind myself not to convert to MYR whenever I spend the money. Damn the currency ! MYR 10 for this !! argh ! Otherwise, it was pretty reasonable.

Being a student myself, I am quite curious of University in Singapore, particularly NUS. How would it look like for a top 30 University in the world ranking ?

Because of that curiosity, we paid a visit to that infamous university.

Went by MRT to Clementi Station and then change transport to bus No. 95. It was near. To my surprise, they do not have gates, it look like it was an open-ended university with many possible accessible route. A sign of good security in Singapore.

So we tour around the University and visit their library. We actually given permission to visit the library without going through any paperwork procedure. Just a polite chat with working librarian over there and they allowed us in. Wow, that really make UM suck real bad. I heard that outsider need to pay MYR 20 to access our library.

There were few things that I really love this NUS. First was, it has a MCD inside !



How I wish UM would consider having a MCD inside. Hmm, but on second thought, the reason we like MCD was because it got free refill. MCD in singapore no free refill wor... what a mood killer.

Second, I am in mad with their no-restriction on dress ethic regulation. Everyone could wear whatever they like. Even in library and everywhere else. It was truly a superb eyes-washing moment throughout the university. Girls there were simply amazing, they were up-to-trend in fashion, know good makeup and excellent in preserving their body figure. I am not lying, hardly I could spot any average Jane over there. With this, I do believe there was no ugly girl in world, just lazy girl.

Third, was their foods !



I not mean that their foods were good. Malaysia foods are still far superior. I meant the average of their food price. I am not sure if either their University / government were subsidizing their foods, because their food was so cheap !



Average bowl / plate of foods cost only SGD 1.80 - 2.00. And the portion was reasonable. Of course, looking from Malaysian perspective, the price was almost the same after conversion. But speaking of Singaporean perspective, if you earn as Singaporean and spend it here. It was a great deal of value.

This inflect the seriousness of inflation in Malaysia. Food price was hiked to average MYR 4-5  per bowl / plate of foods. Damn !

Back to the myth about Singaporean was Kiasu, I found something which might favor the myth.

I found their parking rate was funny. Who in the earth would rate it till 4 decimal places of cent ?

and there was this one day when we decided to pay a visit to their IT fair held at Suntec City Mall. Except for the real good deals of electronic items and serious competition between the seller, it was no fun to walk at all.

I am a photographer, when talking about PC fair, Car Exhibition or sort of event like that... we are really looking forward for doll-up model. So I am kinda looking forward for it with my 50 mm + flash gun ready. To hell with it, it was no show at all. Sales man / girl were plain ordinary and some do not even bother to tidy up themselves.

My shooting mode was so dead until I saw something worth to snap. A line of promoter giving flyers. So I put on my flash and fire-up. To hell...

I thought my shutter was fast enough until it was beaten by them ! They could close their face faster than the speed of 1/60 per second of my shutter. Lol !

So I walked away and I heard one of them saying... 5 dollar please ! They have made my day... by confirming the myth.

Speaking of being a techie in Singapore. It was okay to do that. Because of their strong currency, their items were a lot cheaper and affordable for them. Of course, provided that you earn as Singaporean and spend it there. For  Malaysian like me, Neh... it was the same old costly price.. just that they offer more valuable goodies.

After exploring all the six floor of IT exhibition, we decided to go out and went somewhere else. We saw the giant Ferris Wheel afar. And we traveled there by foot.

Well, we did not waste any dollar on it. Just a sight-seeing as it was so expensive ! SGD30 per ride. Or you can booked entire gondola and have your dinner served on sky with just SGD3000+ lol




Perhaps one day, I will fly my dates over here for a hanging dinner.

Overall, Singapore was a good place to leisure. Their weather would not be hot with most of the time cloudy (maybe because it near sea) and their superb public transportation especially MRT enable us to go anywhere with ease.

The last few days for us MaLatLou was very unproductive. Not that we ran out of money. We still have bucks on us, but we were so lazy and so attracted to the house. The comfy sofa, the tv with a lot of great channels and air-condition on for 24/7.... make us caving in the house for 2 days.

This was where we start clearing out the fridge. Eating everything that was edible

Previous house-mate were leaving a lot left-over in the fridge like eggs, rice, oranges, bread, tuna and etc. So we swept it all into our tummy. Most of the time we ate noodles and bread.

Eating at home did save a lot for us. Averagely we spent SGD3-5 for foods per day if we do not leave the house. Foods were cheap in supermarket if you are not after the branded goods. Big loaf of white bread only cost SGD 1 , Tuna Can SGD 2 , 5pack on Instant noodle only SGD 1.40 and etc.

Thank god and of course Edmund that we were spare from forking out dollars for accommodation. Int total I spent MYR 63 for bus ticket , and SGD 50 for overall expenditure in Singapore for 5days 4 nights. Cheap yo ?

Speaking of bus ticket, thanks to YC research, we save up a lot by traveling to Larkin-Johor and from there we buy long distance bus ticket back to KL. It only cost us MYR 28 for that instead of SGD30 if we decided to buy the ticket in Singapore. But of course, saving money won't be sweet when we have to rush like mad to head to Larkin.

Singapore journey was great. There were still some place I yet to visit like Universal Studio and their Zoo. But because of budget limitation, we skipped all that. Maybe next time when either Malaysia currency become stronger ( I doubt it) or I make a nice income in future.

So what is my opinion about working at Singapore ? Hmm, maybe I will leave that in my next post. This was quite a lengthy post. Thanks for reading it till this point yo. Appreciate it =)