Listening to: Super Junior- 말하지면 (You're my endless love)

MM.. Been almost 2 weeks since I came back from Malaysia. I'm fussing and fidgeting due to the sudden return to having almost nothing to do all day. Although, truth be told, the trip was pretty exhausting with many rush-around, transporting baggage, waiting/chasing after bus and trains, lots of i-don't-know-where-the-heck-I'm-going moments too. Hmm, memory pretty fuzzy actually.

Anyway, pictures to be posted later. I've transported the pictures to HD in order to make room for the many videos of Shinhwa I'm downloading haha.

Read this Chinese novel of... Japanese ghost stories. Some of them are pretty bizarre, outright disgusting if you want to imagine the scenes even. But there's one that particularly stayed in my mind.

It's about a noble in olden days. How, every night after fooling around with his lover, would take the same trishaw back home to his very-rich wife. The story goes on to show his growing disgust towards his wife. But the wife says nothing about how he's changed to a domestically-violent husband.

This noble sometimes get the feeling that the trishaw puller doesn't like him, maybe even mean to harm him, but he has no choice but to take that ride home every time he comes out of the lover's house, else he'd have to walk home- for that was the only trishaw standing by that area.

One night, he was forced to walk home after seeing no sign of the trishaw. But, he sees the puller puling away from his house to another direction. He goes home to find his wife gone, and starts to look for her (he thinks of the wife as his possession, his toy, even if he doesn't like her, she's still his, and what would his father-in-law say?) and started to think the wife ran away with the puller (as she is always seen looking out the front window whenever the noble arrives home)

Just then, the father-in-law's servant came looking for him.


Apparently, the wife committed suicide that night. And her body was taken by the trishaw puller to the father's house. Long ago, before her marriage, a trishaw puller deeply admired the wife. The day of her marriage, he committed suicide. All along, the puller knew of the noble's wrongdoings, and all he did every night was to deliver him back to the wife, so she wouldn't be sad. Now that she's gone, he takes her from the wretched place and puts her back where she would be properly treated.


Interesting. Very moved by the puller's affection, that can last even afterlife. Relationships nowadays are really infected by so many other things that this kind of pureness is rare.

My treasure map :)

I was reading a book the other day named "My sister Bongsoon'

A translated literature by a Korean writer Gong JiYoung (OOhh, someone with surname Gong, can I be a Gong in Korea too? :>>)

There was a part where the author mentioned how humans love drawing maps for themselves. Then they will blindly follow the map without alterations, even if surroundings change beside them. When they find that the road they are taking is not smooth enough, they change the map instead of looking around for solutions or clues on the road.

At least, that's what I think she wrote, more or less along the same lines.

How philosophical, and can be applied into business studies too! Wow, I'm poisoned.


Anyway, it's a good thought to poison someone's mind for a day.


Kuching tml!

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Despereux Tilling

Finished reading the e-version of 'Tale of Despereux'

First off, Despereux sounds cute, and I'm not saying that because I saw him on the cover of the Despereux animation. In between the lines, I can see him as a little mouse that's starting out froma pure mind. From when you don't know evil from good to acknowledging all the wonders and darkness in life. Still, he carried hope and love with him to protect what he loves. And that's wonderful.

It's a great kid's book. But I've read somewhere about someone complaining that this book is promoting racism or something. Make me very puzzled. Maybe she was referring to the discrimination displayed by the story towards the rats. Rats= despicable creatures and they will have no happy ending or happily ever after?

I'll just enjoy this story for what it is. To take the meaning from the surface and leave the brainstorming to the experts.


Despereux,
a name that rolls from my tongue like candy.

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On the other side

So here I am, typing away at 1.30 am
On another piece of land.

I've slept a lot since I got here
To make up for my lack of sleep during the past few weeks I guess
Need to wait for this file to finish uploading before getting to sleep

I wonder, what can I contribute to this land?
What can I contribute to anywhere for that fact?

Took to reading Stephen King's Duma Key
As usual, very intrigued by his writing.
One of the sentences that absolutely caught my breath:

There is no tyrant as merciless as pain, no despot as cruel as confusion.

I chewed these words over and over and still found them tasty, did you?

What if, I told you that you were right, that you nailed the jackpot when you raised that question? Would you look down at me?


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Immediately there was a thunder of hooves. The crowd was silenced, eager to see what would appear.

Four horsemen on great black steeds burst out fro the tunnel. They galloped towards Zoltab's throne, brought their horses to a shuddering halt and saluted. The crowd went wild, for they were a truly awful sight to behold.

The first sat tall and gaunt in the saddle. His skin was stretched so tightly over his bones it seemed as though it was about to tear. The fire in his eyes was savage. Armed with a sharp spear, he was starving for blood.

The second one was worse to look at. His face was covered with sores and boils. Yellow pus ran from encrusted scabs and black bile flowed from his nose. Armed with a bulbous mace, he was sick for blood.

The third was almost invisible, surrounded as he was by a haze of stinging wasps and deadly mosquitoes. The black cloud of insects swarmed around him wherever he went. Armed with a trident and net, he was burning for blood.

But the fourth was worst of all. For in the saddle sat nothing but a skeleton. A set of remains revivified by some diabolic force, is skull set in a terrble grin that was worse than any expression of hatred could ever be. Armed with a great sword, he was dying for blood.

-Dominic Barker, Blart I, 2006

The four horsemen are Famine, Disease, Pestilence and Death. Have you met them? If you haven't, surely you must have seen or heard of them.

San-zai, san-zai.


Not difficult to guess what I'm doing now (;


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Something amusing

It's a drizzling drizzling day today.
Ah...

Yeorobeun,

Happy Mooncake Festival aka
Chuseok and
Day of the Francisco Morazan(Honduras) and
Unity Day (National)(Germany) and
Happy World Temperance Day to
everyone around the world!

My day today:

After this morning's rather interesting lecture, I took a detour to get to my uni library. Ah.. the overdue fines are already over 10 bucks, need to clear them a bit before I can borrow books again. Plus, had some books to renew again.

I love the library. Because it has so many books, and facilities are not bad, plus some pretty friendly library staff. Or maybe it's just because i have an everlasting affinity for books :)

Self-check machine

I love how one can check out books for themselves, and return them via this 24 hour automated book drop. Something that looks like this:

How to use:
Drop your book on the conveyor belt, one at a time. Do not put your arm in, else you'll end up calling the fire department. When you are done, press 'Print receipt' on the touch screen to get the receipt stating the books you have returned.

So I went up to the automated book drop, and sees a girl with an armload of books in front of me...



She must have read the 'How to use' instructions by the side of the machine. CAUSE SHE WAS RETURNING HER BOOKS ONE BY ONE! I mean, not the 'wait for first book to disappear on conveyor belt then put another onto belt' type, but the 'return one book, print receipt, wait for receipt, return another book again' type.

Oh my, I was quite... surprised? I thought she was returning books for her friends or something, so maybe she wanna separate the books of different accounts. But whoa, all the books to be returned the same way? Either she must have many friends, or she really took the 'one at a time' on the instruction very literally.

And no, I did not stop her or anything. Have to admit I was being peculiar and smiling at her back all the way though. Even after she went away with all 8 or 9 pieces of small receipts in hand. Awh... must be a first year student or something.

I do not know if many people do this, I mean, the one at a time thingy. I do hope not, it'd be quite funny for people who sees it.


Still, it's amusing don't you think? How this one sentence can be interpreted so literally. What's a better phrase to prevent future misunderstandings?


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You know what they say?

I have no idea who they are.

Was reading this translated book of Ming n Qing Dynasty tales

One of them described a man who was so fearless that he can slay tigers with bare hands. Once, he went to a magistrate house to boast about his latest conquests. There was a cat that kept annoying the banquet, and the man set out to catch him. Not surprisingly, he can't do anything to that nimble cat.

The story ended with a note from the original author. And i quote:

When a man who can kill tigers is unable to conquer a cat, it is not because he is brave in the face of a formidable enemy nor because he is timid towards a lesser one. The reason is that he has adopted an incorrect approach. The tripod in which you cook an ox will not be suitable for cooking a small animal; a powerful crossbow can not be used to shoot a tiny mouse. Men of talent and ability should understand this and those in charge of choosing and appointing people should be even more aware of it.

As some might have guessed, the reason for this entry lies in the last sentence.


It's the 'habit' sickness acting up again :P By relating everything I read to all the theories I study C: The process of selecting and appointing a worker should be less rigid or focused on one area. There are loads that someone who can't do something can do. Why deny people a chance just because he can't do something mainstream? I'd love to have people with different ideas, it's what makes then unique C: Must consider every aspect (within cost-effective means) before placing someone on a job. Maybe internal recruitment is better then, because of how you can monitor someone over a long time and determine their ability to grow. But I won't mind getting new, fresh, expensive blood. All for the benefit of the masses? That said, I'm a very practical business person; let's just say I prefer profits over ethics ^-.-^~> Hiak hiak



By the way, the latest in Final Destination series.... I had only 2 thoughts while watching it last night:::

1. Oh ewwwwwww
2. Wow, this is a good video for Workplace Safety and Health

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Book: The Hundred-Yen Singer by Naomi Suenaga

The book was translated from Japanese by Tom Gill.

Overall I'd say the book was not too bad. Maybe 6/10 for this one.

I wanted to give up reading the book at first, because the language used was too 'decorative' in a way. Too much for my taste. But then the storyline got better and I started to like reading about the life of a Japanese traveling singer.

The story is about Rinka, and her friends and love life. And how she thinks about the world around her. There's also some glimpse here and there about the obstacles and hardships these aspiring singers face everyday.

I like the last part of the book more. When one of her friends made it big, and Rinka realizes she's really happy for him. When the chance for a debut comes to Rinka, she struggled to stand upright between ambition and love, or rather, the need of being loved, I suppose. That's what she said.

Not too bad this. Glad I finished it.

* Oh yeah, the book also mentioned about the positive effects of spicy kimchi is strengthening a person's vocals. It's no wonder Koreans can sing so well. -- A topic Pinky and the Brain brooched on last night.



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Book review: Dark City- Psychotic and other twisted Malaysian tales by Xeus

I borrowed the book from Uni library as soon as I finished my last exam paper today.

Not too bad a read I must say. Though sometimes the words are twisted around too much for my liking. The plots are up my alley, just plain weird. Some of the story details can be quite gory, one or two about twisted mental minds, about ghosts and there's also one about one being able to 'sense' even after death (Gosh, that guy was resting in a coffin listening to his own funeral. He will lie in the cemetery and 'talk' to his 'neighbors' when night comes. Better get cremated!)

The book also slotted in my fav author's name- Stephen King! (Blergh to Chyi Mei and her James PAtty)

12 short stories in a book. My favorite goes between 'The Six Million Dollar Man' and 'Session One' :)


Overall, I'd say the book was quite an amusing read. Oh, the stories are all set in Malaysian context, and integrated with the multi-cultural colors of the country.


Ah, there's a blog on the book too I think. Click here.

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It's a mail day!

Yeay, loving loving receiving mail!

Especially receiving postcrossing postcards! Cause you never know where you're getting the postcard from!

Let's see, I have: 1 from Portugal, 2 from Finland, 2 from Germany. Two of the cards are cartoonish too! Ah...... I love mail!

Even better, I got a package (sent to shop address) today too!

It's a book!


Stephen King's 'Four Past midnight' that I ordered from Acmamall earlier this month.
Not too bad I must say. I paid on 10th Sept, and by 27th Sept I have the book.
Neatly packaged and delivered to my doorstep.. er.. shop's doorstep lol
I'm definitely shopping there again!

Brunei's postal services has an average delivery time of 2 weeks.
The postman comes by my house once a week (Saturday in fact)
And letters to Europe generally take 11-17 days

Johnny Depp's face on the cover too ^^

Anyhoo, today's the last day of class before mid-semester break starts
To all a happy Raya, and Mid-term hol!

It's a fake holiday week for me infact.
Still so many assignments and surveys and group work and work
A test after the week, how fake

Fake holiday I tell you.

Major activity of the day::

Happy faces when thinking about the upcoming holiday week?

Ah Chong, what you doing? Gambling ah....? Oh myy..
What hand you got? Sure win?

Cheh.. just some Uno cards.
Courtesy of Bosae.

Aiyie went away to UK today tooooo~ Sobs I'll miss you Aiyie~~~!!

And good luck to all others who went too!!



P.S. My sympathies on Chyi's latest encounter.


Plenty to do.

^^ I love mail <3>

Hmmm correct!..

Had to share this.

Click English is Crazy


Current status: Dl-ing games, freezing underneath air-conditioner.

I'm interested in making a visit to this cafe. Any takers?



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Black friday

How's your black friday?

Mine was so-so.

Finished that HP book. Longing for more.

I wonder how some girls can apply mascara and drive at the same time.
I seem to already be fretting about possible dangers when i drive and apply lip gloss. Don't ask me why I don't put on lip gloss before starting off or something, this habit of putting on lip gloss while driving just came on, like that habit of watching fishies swim every morning before going to work.

I'll be reallllll careful. Because there's just so many car accident areas popping up around Brunei. Read the news here.

And avoid getting caught by police too. Like this lady here.

And here's also a website teaching you how to put on a face while driving lol. Here.
So much to learn haha. My whole 'face' only consists of lip gloss atm though, but these can come in handy when I finally learn how to put on eyeliners and etc etc.

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terum retum

Loud music is best for my ears now.
Someone's nick in my msn mentioned sth along the lines of 'ear sex'.

Couldn't agree more.


Am reading Harry Potter's 6th installment- HP and the Half Blood Prince.
Yeah, I'm one of the laggards, cause I'm too poor to buy them books, or too stingy, I'd rather wait until the library has them. Whole set too. All Hail Libraries!

The other book awaiting attack is Grimm's Fairy Tales. I'm already having high expectations.

If all goes smooth, that is, no huge torrents of rain and less people jamming gdg with me, Kung Fu panda should be on with Chong tml.

And I'm going miri again, soon. It's getting boring.

Ah... I wanted to write the quote i got from Indiana Jones movie down in the other web-log, but i forgot. Here then:

'(We are at the point) where life stops giving us things and starts taking them away.'

something similar to that. Strikes me as a beautiful quote.



Oh, HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO SUTENG!!
A little late, but sincere nevertheless =D

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Me loves holidays

Me really do. Holidays are great days to relax and sleep late. And clean my desk (now i'm loving my clean neat desk, probably should last one month in this state). And eat hell lots of food.

Too bad studying is not on top of my list.

I've been reading a book called 'Clutter Be Gone' by Don Aslett. Great housekeeping book this. Haven't finished reading it (page by page!)

Think i'll just chew the book coz i think i need all the housekeeping skills i can get haha

I've also got a quote out of the book; one that i've interpreted to be quite meaningful. Think i'll post it in Xanga. (All quotes go there, you see)


:::::::: Here's some pictures from my trip to Miri the other week. Yes, that food-poisoning trip.

Siblings posing happily.

Scenery shots from the swimming pool. Miri in evening is not bad looking.

Then i saw this.
:
:
:
:
:
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'Hide-A-Bean' Foot Reflexology Center Sdn Bhd?

I keep thinking '....hide what bean?' Can't figure out the WHY of this name

Anyone want to help?